A court in India issued an arrest warrant Friday for the retired chairman of Union Carbide Corp., who is charged with homicide in the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster that killed more than 4,000 people.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Gulab Sharma ordered the extradition from the United States of Warren Anderson, who was Union Carbide`s chief executive when lethal gas leaked from the company`s Indian subsidiary in Bhopal. The company is based in Danbury, Conn.

The orders came nearly three months after the magistrates court charged Anderson with ``culpable homicide not amounting to murder`` and ordered him to appear in court Feb. 1. Anderson did not appear.

``Enough opportunity has been given to Anderson,`` said Sharma in his order issued in Bhopal. ``The only way to get (him) is to initiate extradition proceedings.``

An extradition order must go to the Indian government for approval and be relayed to the State Department in Washington for action.

Officials at Union Carbide headquarters declined to comment and did not make Anderson`s unlisted home telephone number available to The Associated Press.

At least 4,037 people have died as a result of the accident, according to Babu Lal Gaur, minister for gas relief for the state of Madhya Pradesh.